Pepsi Hiv Hoax

Pepsi Hiv Hoax, An SMS that began circulating last week, warning recipients against consuming PepsiCo products, has been exposed as a hoax.

The SMS warned consumers not to drink products under the PepsiCo brand, such as Pepsi, Tropicana and 7 Up, because “a worker from the company has added his blood contaminated with HIV” to the drinks.

One tell-tale sign that gave the game away: The message also listed Coca-Cola as an affected drink, although it is manufactured by a different company. When contacted, Coca-Cola Singapore said that it was alerted to the chain SMS last Thursday.

Director of public affairs and communications June Kong said in an e-mail reply to my paper: “Coca-Cola Singapore has been made aware of an SMS circulating, claiming that Coca-Cola (and PepsiCo) products have been contaminated with HIV. This SMS is a hoax.

“No Coca-Cola product has ever been contaminated with HIV.”

She added that all products under the Coca-Cola Company brand undergo testing andanlysis to ensure they are in compliance with local regulations and standards.

Similarly, a spokesman from PepsiCo told my paper that the SMS and any other similar posts on Facebook or Twitter are “absolutely false”.